Order sourcing methods are used to assign orders for products to one or more sources (e.g., distribution centers, production facilities) that fill the orders by shipping the products to customers. There are some order sourcing methods that automatically assign orders to one or more sources.
One drawback with some existing order sourcing methods is that when an order needs to be reassigned to optimize logistics and/or minimize costs, the order typically may need to be manually reassigned. Most order sourcing methods also usually assign orders to production or shipping facilities based on the geography of the customer's shipping destination relative to the production or distribution centers. The methods often fail to take into consideration the relevant costs that may be involved with shipping products from a particular source.
Some order sourcing methods allow customer orders to be redirected to sources other than the typical geographically determined source in order to reduce costs. In addition, some order sourcing methods permit orders to be reassigned to other sources when there are concerns that the originally assigned source is unable to keep up with the demand for the products in the orders.
Another drawback with some existing order sourcing methods is that orders are often sourced to a production or distribution center that produces, or stores, only a minority of the products that make up the order. When a source produces or stores only a minority of the products that make up the order, the products must be obtained from one or more other sources thereby adding to the cost of filling the order.
Many conventional order sourcing methods often fail to adequately integrate different types of products onto a transport medium (e.g., a truck). As an example, an order for many types of products (or group of products) may be sent to a facility where the order is split up such that one type of product in the order is placed on one truck and another type of product in the product is placed on another truck. The inability of existing systems to adequately integrate different types (or groups) of products onto a transport medium adds unwanted shipping costs when filling orders.